That inspiration could come from something said by an opposing player, the media, or from something that has nothing to do with sports.

In this instance, though a Super Bowl game is often enough in itself, the Blackstone Valley Tech football team found strength from one of its assistant coaches.

Derek Yancik is a teacher and an assistant football coach at Valley Tech, and it was revealed publicly this past week that he suffers from pancreatic cancer.

Even New England Patriot quarterback Tom Brady felt compelled to send a heartfelt message to Yancik before the Beavers’ Division 7 state championship game on Saturday night against Mashpee, after sophomore Zach Synder reached out to the New England icon on Facebook.

The team had known for over a year, but the news had been kept quiet until now.

“When [Yancik] told us what he was facing, the first words he said were, ‘I’m going to fight this, I’m going to beat it, this isn’t going to get the best of me’,” Valley Tech coach Jim Archibald told the Daily News on Friday. “And I think that attitude of his has carried over to our team and our kids really look up to him.”

That strength showed itself on Saturday in a 22-16 loss to Mashpee, particularly in the trenches and especially on one fourth down play in the third quarter.

Mashpee received the ball after the halftime break with a 16-8 lead looking to break the spirit of the feisty Beaver team.

The Falcons embarked on a 13-play drive that culminated with a fourth-and-2 play on the Beavers’ 35-yard line.

Mashpee handed the ball off to its workhorse Devaun Ford (24 rushes, 177 yards) on fourth-and-short, but he was met by junior Jordyn Amero in the backfield.

Ford broke away from Amero, but senior Tyler Truett completed the effort forcing Ford out of bounds, short of the line to gain.

The play ended up keeping the Beavers in a one-possession game and within striking distance as the game trickled down to the latter part of the fourth quarter.

That’s when senior quarterback Reece Hendriks, who returned to action in the South sectional final after breaking his collarbone in October, spoke on how coach Yancik’s attitude transferred to the team.

“He sets a huge example for us,” Hendriks said. “For him to be fighting through what he’s fighting through and still make time to come to all of our games and still makes time to get to some of our practices. … And it’s not like he just stands there at practice and watches it, he gets into coaching mode and yells at lineman and lets them know what they need to know.

“Being able to see a guy like that, going through what he’s going through, it just means so much to us so the least we can do is show how tough we are out there.”

In a day of blowouts on Super Bowl Saturday at Gillette Stadium, Valley Tech put forth an effort that anyone could be proud of.

Especially Derek Yancik.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.